What age groups are most likely to try pegging according to recent surveys?
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Executive summary
Recent, non-representative surveys and industry reports point to younger adults—particularly Millennials and people in their 20s and early 30s—as the age cohort most likely to have tried pegging, but the evidence rests on small, targeted samples, sex-industry reporting, and online opt‑in questionnaires that produce known age-related biases [1] [2] [3] [4]. Nationally representative sex‑behavior research rarely asks about pegging specifically, so conclusions must be cautious and conditioned on methodological limits [5] [1].
1. Millennials and younger adults show the highest reported rates in recent niche surveys
Several recent writeups summarizing focused surveys conclude that Millennials are the generation most likely to have tried pegging and are generally the most experienced with anal practices, a finding repeated in sex‑positive industry reporting such as Astroglide’s roundup of a survey of 880 sexually active Americans [1]. Women’s Health and other outlets cite Dr. Justin Lehmiller’s work and related polling that finds roughly 10% of women report having tried pegging and comparable interest among younger respondents, reinforcing the pattern that interest and experimentation cluster among younger cohorts rather than older ones [2] [3].
2. College‑age patterns and fantasies suggest stronger curiosity among the young
Related statistics compiled by consumer and sex‑advice sites show elevated levels of anal‑pleasure experience and fantasy among college‑age and young adult men and women—for example, one source cites 24% of heterosexual male college students reporting some form of anal pleasure and large fractions of men and women reporting fantasies about receiving or giving anal sex—signals consistent with higher experimental rates among late teens and twenties cohorts [3] [2]. These pieces together suggest the strongest interest and first experimentation with pegging tends to occur in younger sexually active groups [3] [2].
3. Methodological caveats: most large, representative surveys don’t ask about pegging specifically
A major constraint on any confident age‑based claim is that major national and international sex surveys rarely include pegging as a discrete item; they typically only ask about anal sex in general, obscuring whether receptivity involved a partner using a strap‑on or other specifics [1] [5]. The peer‑reviewed literature on sexual behavior documents age‑related trends in oral, vaginal and anal sex, but it does not reliably provide pegging‑specific prevalence across cohorts, leaving smaller online surveys and industry reports to fill the gap [5] [1].
4. Survey design and sampling biases inflate apparent youth prevalence in opt‑in studies
Online opt‑in surveys and convenience samples—common sources for pegging statistics—are vulnerable to age‑related errors: younger adults (18–29) are both overrepresented in opt‑in samples and more likely to produce inconsistent responses, according to Pew’s analysis of online survey subgroup accuracy [4]. Guidance on age‑grouping in surveys also shows that how researchers bin ages and recruit respondents materially affects reported differences across generations [6]. Consequently, higher reported pegging rates among Millennials and younger adults may partly reflect sampling and measurement artifacts, not just true behavioral differences [4] [6].
5. Competing interpretations and hidden incentives in the reporting ecosystem
Industry sources (lubricant and sex‑toy retailers, sex‑advice outlets) have an incentive to spotlight rising trends among younger adults to normalize and market products, while lifestyle outlets often emphasize novelty and taboo to attract clicks—both can amplify the narrative that Millennials lead in pegging uptake [1] [7]. Peer‑reviewed sex‑behavior studies provide a corrective by showing broader age patterns for anal sex but lack pegging granularity, leaving a middle ground where credible signals point to younger adults as likeliest experimenters, yet without representative confirmation [5] [1].
6. Bottom line and what better data would look like
Current best‑available evidence from targeted surveys and media summaries indicates Millennials and younger adults (late teens through early 30s) are most likely to report trying pegging, but that conclusion is provisional: it depends on small or convenience samples, variable question wording, and documented opt‑in survey biases that disproportionately affect younger cohorts; a definitive age‑profile would require pegging‑specific items in large, nationally representative sexual‑behavior studies with careful age stratification and attention checks [1] [2] [4] [5].